A youth sports coach from Fenton has admitted to trying to coerce a girl younger than 18 to have sex with him.
Trevor White, 41, who coached youth athletics for more than 10 years, pleaded guilty on April 10 to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, which is punishable by 10 years to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As part of his plea agreement, a charge for sexual exploitation of a minor was dismissed.
According to the agreement, White, who knew the girl’s parents and knew the girl was younger than 18, sent a text message to the victim at 10:33 p.m. Sept. 24, 2023, requesting she send him photos of herself. In text messages, White told the girl she was “teasing” him and asked her, “What other pics do you have to tempt me with?” He also sent the girl a shirtless photo of himself.
The girl told her parents about the text messages, and her parents contacted St. Louis County Police on Sept. 25. A detective was given permission to use the girl’s phone and impersonated her while texting White, the agreement said.
On Sept. 26, White exchanged text messages with the detective, which became increasingly sexually explicit, and White implied he wanted to have sex with the girl, according to the report.
On Sept. 28, the detective and White exchanged text messages again, and White suggested the girl have sex with him in his pickup at a park. White also sent sexually explicit pictures of women he download from the internet and asked the victim to send him similar photos of herself, the report said.
St. Louis County Police detectives went to White’s home on Sept. 29, and he admitted to sending the text messages. He said he wasn’t going to follow through with his plan to have sex with the girl and was going to notify the girl’s parents about her “risky behavior,” according to the plea agreement.
When detectives found the text messages on White’s phone, he said he probably had “a wire crossed in (his) head” and he knew he “crossed the line,” the report said.
The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case, and assistant U.S. attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit justice.gov/psc.